I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France

Dominic seemed to have seen through Shire's thoughts, and he was somewhat defiant: "I know I'm not quite suitable, but everyone who goes to the battlefield has to go through this stage. They all have a process from being unadapted to adapted..."

Shire interrupted Dominic: "You're right, but many people are already corpses before they adapt."

Dominic was speechless.

What Shire said was true. Apart from his knowledge of guns, Dominic had no other qualities. His chubby body was fatal on the battlefield.

Not to mention whether he could run fast, just the fact that he was nearly twice the size of an average person would make him easier to spot by the enemy.

"Everyone has their position, Dominic," Shire said. "Your position is to deliver better, more accurate, and more battlefield-appropriate guns to frontline soldiers. This is far more useful than you going to the battlefield yourself."

Dominic agreed with Shire's statement, but he didn't care about these things.

"I don't care about that, General," Dominic replied. "This might disappoint you, but..."

Shire nodded. This was Dominic's persistence. His mind was only on guns, and the contributions to the country, whether big or small, were irrelevant to him.

He wanted to go to the battlefield not to fight for France, but to improve his psychological quality and control over the guns.

At this moment, a thought suddenly jumped into Shire's mind: "Maybe, you don't need to go to the battlefield to achieve self-improvement."

Dominic smiled bitterly: "Thank you, General. But I don't think there will be such a good thing."

This statement was almost giving up. He firmly believed that the next stage of challenges could only be faced on the battlefield; it was just a matter of going or not going.

Shire said nothing. He stood up, walked to Dominic, and extended his hand towards the rifle in Dominic's hands.

Dominic understood what Shire meant. Hesitating, he handed the rifle to Shire.

Shire took the rifle and then took out a telescope from his waist, attaching its monocular to the rifle before handing it back to Dominic.

Dominic took the rifle, puzzled, not understanding what this meant.

But under Shire's direction, he got up, raised the rifle, and looked into the distance. Then he suddenly turned his head towards Shire and exclaimed: "God, are you saying to combine the telescope with the rifle?"

"Why not?" Shire said. "This way, you can see distant targets clearly, and your shooting accuracy can be raised several levels instantly."

Dominic was beyond excited. He tried it again and said excitedly: "Brilliant idea, General. It's even easy to achieve. Just need to add a monocular telescope."

"We should add a slide rail to the rifle," Shire said.

"Slide rail?" Dominic was puzzled.

But he quickly understood and nodded: "Yes, adding a slide rail makes it detachable. Sometimes it needs to be used, and sometimes it doesn't, like when charging the enemy. Moreover, a slide rail makes it easier to replace."

The more Dominic thought about it, the more excited he became, his breathing growing rapid: "Wonderful, General. I can't wait to see what it looks like. I should produce it now..."

He actually wanted to see how far he could shoot with such a weapon.

But Shire didn't let him go. Since they had come this far, Shire thought it was time for the submachine gun to appear.

"We should discuss another issue." Shire nodded towards Shen Bili's direction.

The latter was practicing on the shooting range, wearing a gas mask, trying to find out the refraction angle of the gas mask. He hoped that one day, when the battlefield environment forced him to operate under these conditions, he wouldn't miss the target like the last time.

This was Shen Bili's strength. His purposefulness and targeted actions allowed him to overcome obstacles and adapt to new environments in the shortest possible time.

He knew that if he didn't do so, he might not survive the next battle.

"You mean to equip the sniper company with this telescope-mounted rifle?" Dominic guessed.

"Yes," Shire replied. "This way, they can hit farther targets with higher accuracy."

Dominic made a sound of acknowledgment, but there was some confusion on his face: "You only want to equip the elite units; I thought you meant to modify all rifles like this."

"No, Dominic." Shire smiled and shook his head: "Ordinary soldiers don't need this. Their combat environment and quality make it useless."

This was not about cost, but rather on the front lines, ordinary soldiers needed more rapid fire. They needed to shoot as many bullets as fast as possible to hold off the charging enemies. Emphasizing accuracy by mounting a scope had little significance, unless human wave tactics completely disappeared.

"No problem, General," Dominic nodded. "I will produce this kind of rifle very soon. It won't take long."

He wanted to leave again, eager to produce this new rifle.

"That's not what I was going to say," Shire stopped him again: "We need another kind of gun, a gun that can provide cover for the rifle, a gun for the observer to use."

As an instructor at the police training base and an instructor interested in guns, Dominic naturally knew about the sniper company's two-person cooperative teams.

"I've heard about it," Dominic replied. "Shen Bili told me, the observer needs a gun. He thinks this gun should have a short body but high rate of fire to provide cover for the shooter when the enemy launches a mass charge."

Shire was a bit surprised. He had never told Shen Bili this, but Shen Bili had analyzed it himself and hit the mark.

In this respect, Shen Bili was indeed an extraordinary talent.

Then Dominic said helplessly: "But unfortunately, we don't have such a gun. I once considered the 'Saint Etienne Model 2' light machine gun, but after trying it, we unanimously agreed that its long body required an assistant gunner, which is obviously not suited for an observer."

"Have you considered pistol bullets?" Shire asked calmly.

"Pistol bullets?" Dominic looked at Shire, then immediately realized: "You mean to develop a high-rate-of-fire gun using pistol bullets, a new gun?"

"Yes." Shire nodded. "Pistol bullets have less propellant and lower recoil. Producing a machine gun-like weapon with them makes achieving a short body and high rate of fire less difficult, doesn't it?"

Dominic's eyes widened like copper bells, staring blankly at Shire for a while without reacting.

This indeed wasn't difficult. Switching to pistol bullets, even directly shortening the 'Saint Etienne Model 2,' would accomplish it.

But no one had thought of this!